Scientificblogging has this to say about CFL bulbs:

“My latest gripe is the claim that low energy bulbs are a magic panacea for the environment and that they are wonderful in all respects. I don’t use them and there are a few compelling reasons why you should focus on other ways to save the environment also.

The main reason I don’t use them is because I am not smug enough.

You know what I am talking about. Who actually laughed at those Apple television ads where the smug, hipster guy is the Apple user and the buffoon uses a PC? It takes some true marketing incompetence to make Microsoft seem lovable but they did it. The only people who liked those ads were Apple users, who are already smug.”

Bahahaha!

.. but remember if you reading this today your likely in a home. Let’s not confuse freedom to choose with our responsibility to help someone in need. I advovate freedom a lot. But that’s not so you can just sit back and do nothing. it is so you are now free to do good and support good.

Now go and make it a Merry Christmas for someone else.

In this article in the BBC News:

“…injected zebrafish eggs with a segment of DNA designed to interfere wth FIT2 expression.

The resulting larvae were fed on a high-fat diet for six hours to try to induce lipid droplet formation.

But an examination of their livers and intestines revealed a near-absence of droplets.”
…

“Now that we’ve identified the genes and the proteins they code for, it should be possible to develop drugs that can regulate their expression or activity.

“Such drugs could prove extremely valuable, not only for treating the main result of excess lipid droplet accumulation - obesity -but for alleviating the serious disorders that arise from obesity including type 2 diabetes and heart disease.”

Dr Ian Campbell, medical director of the charity Weight Concern, said: “This is a very interesting study, which adds weight to the notion that a large part of our risk of becoming obese is genetic.”

Follow this link to Adam Curry’s blog and also a link to the Tea Party 07 site.

.. where I will link to various online and offline resources for retrospection and thought. I am not always necessarily trying to make a point or even guide your thinking. I am simply putting it out there for further discussion and .. of course more thought. Enjoy!

Most people seem to think algebraically. If accidents = cell phone use therefore safety = ban cellphone use. In other words the bad thing that causes accidents rather then thinking a step above that by calling for punishing (or use the word discouraging for the Dr. Spock crowd) bad behavior and personal responsibility. Conservatives and Democrats alike just kinda dust their hands and say well solved that problem when in fact the problem is humanity. I see the same in parenting. Well the child annoys me now but I must keep them safe so here is a bottle, a playpen and a television set set. Now do my job for me.

Sadly this country (United States) has gone so far down this road in the name of ease, comfort and safety that I don’t believe we can ever dig out. In the words of Neil Pert:

“Lessons taught but never learned,
all around us anger burns.
Guide the future by the past.
Long ago the mould was cast.” - Bastille Day

It started with Fake Steve Jobs. He was even outed and still it keeps up. In fact now we have Fake Bill Gates, Steve Balmer, Jonathan Schwartz and of course Fake Larry Ellison. There is even a Fake John C. Dvorak and Fake Paul Thurrott. Of course the ultimate vanity is when you yourself get faked and return it in kind.